Bucket List Trip - First Stop - Osaka

It's been a very long time since I've blogged and I always think my previous post will be the last post I'll ever do, but I can't leave my blog without posting about a dream that I've had for so long, that finally came true because I love having all my memories in one spot. I can't believe that I didn't even do one post in 2024! 

 As a teenager I had always been interested in learning languages other than English and did Indonesian and French classes in high school.  When I was in Year 11 and 12, I took Japanese classes. I loved learning an Asian language and I think I especially loved learning how to read hiragana and katakana and learning a language that was so different to English. 

Ever since I did Japanese classes I wanted to go visit Japan, but after Aaron and I got married we were broke and never had the chance to travel before the boys (and in particular Noah) were born.  We had always talked about travelling in the future, and we knew that the reality of that was that it would be so bittersweet, because we could only ever travel after Noah passed away, which we never wanted to think about.  

We had always talked of traveling to the USA together, to visit places that I lived in for a year (as a teenager), to go to Disneyland and New York in particular and to go to some NBA games.  I turned 50 last year and as my birthday got closer, I kept thinking that I should do something special for my birthday.  I had planned a fun weekend away with some girlfriends but wanted to do something bigger for it, especially since my 40s were the hardest years of my life. I had thought about going to the USA but I really don't have the desire to go there like I used to.  I would love to go to meet people that I've become friends with online (especially my widow friends) but the rate of the Aussie dollar and things going on in the USA has put me off going there now. 

This time a couple of years ago, we were about to go on school holidays and one of my teacher friends asked me what we were going to be doing for the holidays. I told her I wasn't doing much but was looking forward to having a quiet holiday and then she told me that her family was going to Japan.  We talked about how amazing that would be, and something just clicked in my brain that day and I drove home thinking that everyone else goes to amazing places, and I think it's not possible because it's too expensive, too hard to travel on my own and too scary.   I decided that day that I need to stop thinking it's too hard and just make it happen and that to celebrate my 50th I would love to finally go to Japan. 

I started following lots of Japan travel groups on Instagram and Facebook and realised that there was a lot that I had to learn about travelling there and started trying to work out a budget. I also started learning Japanese again on Duolingo and had fun seeing what I could remember and realised how little I knew!  

I knew it would take a long time to save up enough to go and really wanted the boys to come but knew I couldn't afford to pay for all of our flights. I then told the boys that I wanted to do something for my 50th and wanted to go to Japan, and that I would be taking Kobe and that I would love for Jay and Harri to come too, but they would need to help by paying for their own flights. Jay said he was in straight away but Kobe and Harri were disappointed that I had changed my mind from wanting to go to the USA like I had talked about in the past, as they'd always been very keen to go there. 

Once they got over the disappointment that we wouldn't be going to the USA, they both became really excited about it.  We talked for ages about the best time to go and it was hard to find a time when we could all go, and we finally booked out flights which were 20 months after my first thoughts about going.   

Before I decided to be a teacher, I actually wanted to be a travel consultant, so I decided to just plan the whole trip myself. I literally spent months and many hours just watching Reels on Instagram and reading Japan travel Facebook group posts and worked out a bucket list of places I wanted to go. I saved ideas into different folders and then decided from there what I really wanted to do in each area. I actually think my life was consumed with so many details about Japan for at least 18 months and although I was excited, it was also quite stressful planning it all on my own. 

I finally decided on a two-week itinerary where we would fly into Osaka, from there we would spend some time in Kyoto, go to Universal Studios, then go south to Hiroshima and Miyajima Island and then catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo, where we would fly home from.  I had to make it look pretty before I posted it on our Japan trip group chat.  Maybe I should've stuck with wanting to be a travel consultant instead of a teacher ;) 

We flew to Queensland to stay with my brother Chrish before we left, as we were flying to Osaka from Brisbane.  I hadn't travelled overseas since I was 19 and the boys had never been overseas, so we all had to get passports.  Even as we were about to leave Brisbane, it didn't feel real. 

I decided that since it was our first overseas holiday together, I didn't care how much extra it cost to get a direct flight there and back. I didn't want to be worried about missing connections or travelling longer than we needed to and I was so glad that we did.  It was supposed to be a 9-hour flight, but it ended up being just over 8 hours from Brisbane to Osaka. We were so lucky and had two rows, with a spare seat in each of our rows.  

We arrived in Osaka at about 8 pm at night and it was very exciting and overwhelming all at once. 

I hadn't expected that we would need to get on a train as soon as we got straight off the plane, which took us to customs.  It was so exciting to hear Japanese and to be able to read some of the hiragana and katakana. There were hundreds of people everywhere and I had filled out a customs form online before we had arrived, so I was watching carefully for where we should go.  Jay was so good at just not stressing about everything and helped to keep me calm.  After we got through customs and collected our bags, I knew we needed to book a train to get to our accommodation and thank goodness that the people at the desk spoke English, because I was feeling very overwhelmed and just couldn't wait to get to our accommodation. 

We got off the train at Namba Station and I knew it was about a 10-minute walk to our accommodation. Our accommodation had given me directions, but we found it easier to just follow Google Maps in the end. Jay was great and took over leading us to find our accommodation. I just kept looking around and was overwhelmed with emotion that we were finally in Japan together.  I kept stopping to take quick photos and even yelled with excitement when I saw my first vending machine on the street. 

The sights, smells and sounds were overwhelming and incredible.  It was also around 10:00 pm as we walked through the streets and there were people everywhere. 

It didn't take long to find our accommodation and it was such a relief when we got into the room okay and I felt like I could finally relax and start really enjoying the trip. 

I was so happy that all my research had paid off and was very happy with our accommodation. I wanted it to be close to everything including train stations, and the other priority was that we all had a separate bed. I knew Japanese accommodation could be small, but I didn't mind as long as we all had our own bed. 

Harri got a bad concussion about a month before our trip from basketball and still wasn't great when we arrived, and he and Jay were really tired, so they decided to go to bed.  It was 11 pm (1 am Tasmania time) but Kobe and I were on a high and decided we wanted to just go out for a quick walk to take a look around.  With everything I had read while planning our trip, I knew (or hoped) that it was a very safe place to be and really wasn't worried about going out and about at night. 

While walking to our accommodation we saw a lot of konbinis (convenience stores) and we knew that they were well known for cheap, yummy food so that was our first stop.  I was so excited to see all the things I had read lots about - the fruit and egg sandos (sandwiches), onigiri and famichiki (famous  cheap fried chicken). We couldn't believe how cheap the food was compared to Australia. 

We decided to just get an onigiri and famichiki to try. 

Our accommodation was a 7-minute walk from Dotonbori which is where all the action is in Osaka. After going to the konbini we headed there and were so excited to see all the lights that we had seen in photos.  

We were excited to see the famous Glico man sign and took a quick photo, found a Maccas to have a quick look at the menu because we were excited to see how it was different to home and then headed back to bed. I was so happy and excited to finally be in Japan. 

The next morning, I opened up the curtains and this was view out of our balcony window.  There was a food shop which had a cute octopus sign on the top of it and it just felt like it was in the most random spot.  

At night we would often just get different things to eat, and Harri went and got some food there one night and it was incredible.  After trying it, I had to go there another night and got takeaway. 

On our first full day in Osaka, we just had fun walking around and checking out everything in the daylight. 

Osaka is such a fun, quirky city.  I loved everything about it right from the start.  

We stayed there for 5 nights and did day trips to Kyoto from there, but we loved coming back to Dotonbori each night as there was so much to see and do there.  It felt safe enough for the boys to go off on their own at night and for all of us to just come and go from our accommodation as we wanted. 

Everything in Japan is open till late, but nothing opens until 10 am.  One morning I woke up early and decided to go for a walk around Dotonbori on my own.  You go from seeing crazy, bright shops to beautiful old streets within a few metres of each other. 

I loved all the different manhole covers in each area. 

While I was out walking on my own, I came across Ichiran for the first time. I had seen many reels on Instagram about it and was so excited to see it in real life. You order ramen from a machine and then take a ticket to your booth. You don't have to talk at all, to order your meal. It was definitely something I had on my bucket list for when I was in Japan.  I knew it wasn't the best ramen you could get in Japan as it's a chain store, but it was still something I really wanted to do. 

I decided to get ramen for breakfast and my heart was racing with excitement and also nerves because I wasn't exactly sure how to do it. It was the first time I felt like I needed to use Google translate to let them know that I wasn't sure what to do, but in the end, it was easy and so much fun.  

There are separate booths to sit in and once you're in your booth a server rolls up a bamboo window covering and comes and take your ticket and prepares the ramen for you. Then they roll up the bamboo window again and pass your ramen through and then bow before leaving.  

The ramen was so good (especially compared to anything I've had in Australia) but I quickly learnt that I needed to up the seasoning, spice and richness for it to be just how I wanted.  I did end up going to Ichiran a few times during the whole trip and finally worked out exactly how I liked it. 

On our first day as we were walking around, we came across this amazing strawberry shop. I was so keen to try the candied strawberries on a stick and was worried I'd be disappointed as it was just strawberries covered in like a hard toffee, but it was so good. 

As we walked around Namba we came across this beautiful cemetery in the middle of the city. 

We then walked to Namba Yasaka Shrine which was impressive but a lot smaller than I imagined. There were lots of other people there having a look including tour groups. 

You can buy these pieces of wood to write your wishes on which are then tied up.  People also pay a small amount of money to pull their fortunes and if it's good you keep it, but if it's a bad fortune you tie it up. 

We jumped onto our second train to go to Osaka Castle. I was so nervous about getting around on the trains but quickly found it to be very easy thanks to Google maps which told us exactly which entrance, gate, train and exit to use each time.  Even though it was easy to work out the trains, I was still very happy to hand over the job of navigating the trains over to Jalen, who did a great job at getting us around. Planning the trip took so much time and was quite stressful at times, so I was glad that Jay could take over the navigating. 

At the Castle grounds we came across these cute Japanese ladies. 

I couldn't think of anything more Japanese than looking at a castle, with a row of vending machines nearby.  

On our first couple of days in Osaka we were still trying to find our feet. We were surrounded by a language we didn't know. Duolingo definitely helped me to understand a few things, but I had no idea really and I wasn't brave enough to try saying anything in Japanese just yet, other than 'arigato gozaimasu (thank you) so for the first couple of days, we just bought lots of snacks from the konbini when we were hungry. 

As the days went on, we realised that it wasn't actually that hard to order food at other places.  Food from the konbini was still high on our list all the time as it was so cheap compared to home, so convenient and also so delicious. 

We would often buy onigiri and sandwiches for a quick breakfast, before we would head out for the day.  Every night we would grab an ice-cream or a new packet of chips to try on the way back to our accommodation. We were always amazed at how cheap the food was. 

I knew that we would be doing a lot of walking in Japan, and I thought I wore good walking shoes on our first day in Osaka, but they definitely weren't.  The first night I could hardly walk because two of my toes were so sore.  I was actually worried about how I was going to be able to walk for the rest of the trip.  Harri had felt overwhelmed on the first day because it was so different to home.   That night he offered to go to a chemist to get me some Band-Aids and I was a bit worried about him going out on his own as he wasn't feeling great from the concussion he'd had, but it was actually the best thing for him to do, as he got some confidence in going out on his own.  He also saved me with the Band-Aids and my toes healed up within a couple of days, and I felt okay for the rest of the trip (after I swapped shoes!). 

We loved Osaka as our first port of call in Japan and would definitely go back there again.  We love big, busy cities and the boys loved being close to all the shops and arcades, as it meant we could go back to our accommodation when we were tired and then go back out again if we felt like it. One night I was resting at our accommodation, and the boys sent me this photo while they were at the arcade together. 

I was amazed by everything I saw from the beautiful trains to the hundreds of vending machines on every single street. I felt so lucky to finally be in Japan. It had planned the trip for almost two years, but it had been on my bucket list since I was 17 years old, and it was definitely a dream come true to be there with the boys, especially after all the sad and hard years that we'd had together. 

There's no way I could just do one post about the trip, so there will be many more to come as I want to make sure that I have a record of all the incredible things we did and saw.